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Whyborne & Griffin: Balefire – Jordan L. Hawk
Whyborne’s Endicott relatives have returned to collect on the promise he made to help them take back their ancestral manor from an evil cult. In exchange, they’ll give him the key to deciphering the Wisborg Codex, which Whyborne needs to learn how to stop the masters.
To that end, Whyborne, his husband Griffin, and their friends Iskander and Christine travel to a small island off the coast of Cornwall. But when they arrive at Balefire Manor, Whyborne must not only face the evil within the ancient mansion, but the painful truth about his own destiny.
I can’t believe we’re almost at the end…
It has been quite a ride and ten books in, I’m still feeling the thrill. In fact, I think Balefire is the best book yet!
Reading the previous installments is definitely a must and I strongly recommend the Whyborne & Griffin series for those into paranormal historical because this is one of the best series out there.
Balefire has our quartet, Whyborne and his husband Griffin, Iskander and Christine, traveling across the Pond to help the Endicotts take back their mansion in exchange for the key to the Wisborg Codex. I love that the story almost instantly gets into the action with some major laugh out loud moments to break the tension. And there is tension aplenty. Whyborne and friends do not trust the Endicotts, the Endicotts consider Whyborne an abomination and the ketoi are making demands.
Hell yeah, Christine! Our girl is in dire need of sustenance. In her condition, she’s craving for lemons but she’s still fighting monsters in that devil may care badass way of hers. I’m also glad to see Heliabel has a major role in the story as Persephone’s emissary. The Whyborne Matriarch can fight as ferociously as the best of them.
The romance was not the focus in this installment but that is understandable. Saving the world took precedence and I greatly approved the fact that Jordan L. Hawk did not push the usual romance conflicts as Whyborne and Griffin are already married and it would be tiresome if they go through big misunderstandings or almost break ups every time. Instead we are treated with tender moments that speak volumes of the deep love between the two. Even Iskander and Christine had their moments.
Jordan L. Hawk did a great job connecting all the threads and then amping up the volume by introducing another interesting magic system, having Whyborne do more mindblowing spells and just generally making things more action- packed and fast-paced.
The author not only made good use of Lovecraftian mythos but she was also able to deftly include Arthurian legends to the mix.
Our favorite bad guy from the Outside made his appearance and he is still bent on making Whyborne surrender. Whyborne, stubborn man that he is, is holding his ground with some help from an ancient being. Although it still seems we are not any closer to seeing these Masters, I am already feeling the excitement of the final showdown.
And now for some burning questions:
How would Widdershins be now that the Endicotts are in town? What would their lives be like when our quartet becomes a quintet? What would Whyborne find in the Wisborg Codex? And who would survive the battle with the Masters?
The adventures of Whyborne, Griffin, and their friends will conclude in
Deosil, Whyborne & Griffin Book 11.Rating:
5 Stars – absolutely perfectSoundtrack: Long & Lost
Artist: Florence + the Machine
Album: How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40281878-balefire)
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The Tutor – Bonnie Dee
Gothic romance with a twist.
Elements of The Sound of Music, The Enchanted Garden, Jane Eyre, and “true” ghost hunting shows make this story feel familiar. Gay love makes it unique.
Seeing an ad for a position at a Yorkshire estate, typesetter Graham Cowrie decides to make an upward career move by passing himself off as a tutor. How hard can it be to teach a few subjects to a pair of nine-year-old boys? But on his arrival at the ancient house, he finds the staff creepy, the twins odd, and the widowed master temporarily absent.
His first meeting with brooding, stern, but oh-so-attractive, Sir Richard doesn’t go well, but with no other prospects vying for the teaching position, Graham manages to keep it. His mission soon becomes clear, break down the walls of reserve both father and sons have erected and attempt to bridge the gap between them.
But strange sounds, sights and experiences keep Graham on edge until he finally admits the Hall is haunted by two entities with very different agendas. Graham works to appease one and combat the other while protecting the broken family he’s grown to care for.
This seems like a book where there should be a person on the cover running away from a foreboding manor while looking back. However instead of a woman, it should be that book model above. Rowan Mcallister’s We Met in Dreams had one such cover.
The Tutor is a Gothic novel without the deep, complicated prose of the Gothic classics. It is dark, atmospheric and creepy but the scare factor is blunted by the irreverent humor and blase attitude of the almost always cheery Graham Cowrie. Graham is, in his own words, a jovial, affable person with an active imagination. He really is. He tends to be cheeky even to the ghostly voice of the dead wife, Lavinia, in his head.
He laughs at the face of spirit possession.
Graham, whom I suspect is an atheist, seems to only half believe this ghost business the entire time even when he was looking for ways to exorcise the spirits. I liked this side of him. His personality was what carried the book to the end.
Richard Allinson is a dour, sad man who is terrible at dealing with his traumatized sons. I don’t know what attracted Graham to him other than he is handsome and he pinged on Graham’s gaydar. That and their mutual love of books perhaps. Whatever the case I think Richard and his equally sad sons need a ray of sunshine in their lives and if Graham is it, then who I am to say otherwise. Graham certainly loved playing the coquette with Richard and Richard wasn’t so bad after having all his USTs resolved.
Whitney and Clive are nine-year old twin boys grieving the loss of their mother. Clive does not speak because of the trauma and Whitney is the one who speaks for both of them. At first, they try to drive Graham away with pranks and tricks but Graham won them over with his fun, inventive lessons and masterful story telling. Juggling the responsibilities of tutor, nursemaid and caretaker, Graham tries to keep young active minds occupied, help the boys get over their loss and try to reconcile them with their father. All that is missing in this scenario is a talk about favorite things and making play clothes out of draperies.
Allinson Hall is exactly the kind of house with a name I want to get lost in, minus the malevolent spirit. Can you imagine all the secret places you can discover?! As much a character as a setting, the hall is dark, gloomy and cold and infects its inhabitants with melancholy so profound they kill themselves. It doesn’t help that it rains all the time and nobody seems to have an umbrella.
The resolution was cliche. I keep thinking maybe we will get an ending where all these mysterious happenings would be explained by perfectly logical, non-supernatural means but Bonnie Dee went ahead with the ghosts, evil spirits and Exorcism 101 techniques. Funnily enough, Graham still seems to be taking things a bit too lightly. He really is the best guy to take when exploring haunted houses.
By itself, the story was moderately enjoyable but I could definitely say the experience was made better because of narrator, Ruri Carter, whose dry comments and occasional profanity as heard through Graham’s acquired posh accent seemed funnier than they actually are. When a plummy voice says “fuck”, I imagined this is how William sounds like when he says “Fuck you, Harry! I’m next in line.”
This is only my second book from Bonnie Dee and though I liked The Fortune Hunter slightly better, I think The Tutor an OK book to start with if you want to get into her works.
Rating:
3.5 Stars – that place between like and love
Soundtrack: Give Up the Ghost
Artist: Radiohead
Album: The King of Limbs(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25859807-the-tutor)
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Unfit to Print – K.J. Charles
When crusading lawyer Vikram Pandey sets out in search of a missing youth, his investigations take him to Holywell Street, London’s most notorious address. He expects to find a disgraceful array of sordid bookshops. He doesn’t expect one of them to be run by the long-lost friend whose disappearance and presumed death he’s been mourning for thirteen years.
Gil Lawless became a Holywell Street bookseller for his own reasons, and he’s damned if he’s going to apologise or listen to moralising from anyone. Not even Vikram; not even if the once-beloved boy has grown into a man who makes his mouth water.
Now the upright lawyer and the illicit bookseller need to work together to track down the missing youth. And on the way, they may even learn if there’s more than just memory and old affection binding them together…
A double post in celebration of the World Cup.
Congratulations, France!
I’m team Croatia but I couldn’t find a Croatian LGBTQIA+ book, so even though it did not come home, here’s an English book anyway.
Anything K.J. Charles writes, I read. I am reading my way through her existing oeuvre. At the latest count, there are probably only 4 books left that I need to get my hands on. I hope she keep those goodies coming.
As she had stated on her blog, historical romance and happy endings should not be limited to rich white people and true to her word, she has created happy endings for a jobbing writer and a black merchant as seen in Wanted, a Gentleman, an Indian lodgings keeper and a Victorian taxidermist in An Unseen Attraction and has also included a transman and black club manager (a couple) in the A Society of Gentlemen series.
Unfit to Print is another example of Charles’ consistent effort to write diverse and inclusive stories. Vikram Pandey is a successful Indian lawyer who works pro bono for the poor Indian residents of London. He was tasked to look for a missing Indian boy and his search brought him to the ironically named Holywell Street which is the Akihabara of porn in 19th century England. To his extreme shock, he found his childhood friend and former school buddy Gil Lawless, long thought dead for 13 years. Gil is a mulatto bastard of the Lawes family, swindled out of his inheritance and abandoned to the streets by his half brother, Matthew. He now owns a bookstore selling illicit materials.
Vikram is a moralizing, uptight gentleman with an overactive sense of responsibility and Gil is one of the free love, free will, mutual enjoyment sort who let the others do the worrying because it’s damn well none of his business. Theirs is a combination that worked quite well despite of and/or because of the differences. Vik sees through Gil’s well-cultivated apathy and knows he cares. Why else would he come to Vik’s office? Gil brought the joy and the smiles back to Vik’s life like he always had all those years ago in Oxford. And when one is uptight and the other is insouciant, the resulting dialogue is usually the laugh out loud kind.
“You’ve really got a problem with the pictures?”
“Of course I do,” Vikram snapped. “They’re illegal, immoral, and obscene.”
“Right, but what’s bad about them?”
Although the main focus was Vik and Gil and the mystery was light, it wasn’t a slouch on that area either. The two did great detective work, sorting through a massive heap of porn photos looking for clues on the whereabouts of the missing boy, Sunil, who worked as a model in some of the photos. Their search also bought another case
to their attention, that of a young boy who was found in the streets with his skull caved in, and as this boy was also found posing in the pictures, they knew the cases were related.
I commend the amount of research done for this story. I think modern day porn connoisseurs would be astounded at the variety and scope of Victorian era pornography. As always, the way Charles writes about London is like opening a door and getting hit with the smell of Thames and a barrage of Anglo accents. I also liked the way Vik and Gil’s race and background were worked into the story in a very natural way. They were important and were touched upon but not the focus. Rather, there was the well-paced and well-fleshed out development of their characters and relationship, there was the fight to right the wrongs done to poor immigrants, a discussion on the depths people go through to survive, a look at the hypocrisy of the upper class and an exhortation to be happy even if life has given you one too many kicks in the guts.
“What’s important,” he said carefully. “For me, what’s important is that you give each other a good time when you can. Carpe diem, as they used to say at school. Take your pleasures where you find them, while they last.”
“And do anything you like, because it doesn’t really matter?”
“Being alive matters,” Gil said, on a sudden wave of something like anger. “It matters that I’ve got a warm room and a full belly, and I know that because I went a while without those things, which I’ll bet is more than you ever did. It matters that I’ve a pal with me, and there’s something I reckon you’ve been missing. It matters to be happy instead of miserable.”
It’s easy to take the high moral ground but there’s also the adage of walking a mile in another man’s shoes. I think Vik and Gil made a compelling case of how we can make these things work, of keeping an open mind, of giving enough damns and taking action.
This is an opposite attracts + childhood friends to lovers story + second chance romance with great sense of time and place, palpable Victorian atmosphere and as always, that distinctly sharp humor I have come to associate with Charles’ writing. This might not be her best work, hence the quibbles, but if you ask me what’s wrong with it, I really couldn’t say. Still, this is a great addition to her collective body of work.
Definitely recommended!
Rating:
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bits(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39330140-unfit-to-print)
P.S.
Wanted, an Author – K.J. Charles
Wanted, an Author is a 5000-word story set in 1807. It returns to the characters of Wanted, a Gentleman, and also introduces a character from my forthcoming novel, Band Sinister.
A Newsletter freebie.
This works best if you’ve read Wanted, a Gentleman.In Unfit to Print, Gil found a copy of Jonathan: or, The Trials of Virtue, said to be the holy grail of illicit books. Here is where you find the author who wrote it.
Theo getting giddy at being called “a real writer” is adorbs! I’m glad his career is going well.
Martin snoring like a foghorn and annoying the hell out of Theo is just too funny.
Setting the story at the time when Parliament was voting for the abolition of slavery was a nice historical touch and a great excuse to party. And boy, did they party!
John Raven and Lord Corvin! I can’t wait to see what mischief they are up to.
What’s up with all these birdy surnames?
Rating:
3.5 Stars – that place between like and love(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40735423-wanted-an-author)
Soundtrack: Adventures in Solitude
Artist: The New Pornographers
Album: Challengers -
A Tender Curiosity – Charlie Cochet
Take a journey into the past and meet the men who laughed, lived, and loved in a bygone era. This collection includes three short but sweet tales of infatuation, adventure, humor, and even a dash of the paranormal.
When Love Walked In
Private investigator Bruce Shannon’s cases of missing persons and infidelity don’t inspire warm feelings around Valentine’s Day. Luckily Bruce is quite happy with only his cat for companionship—until handsome Jace Scarret wanders off the street and into Bruce’s life.In His Corner
Former world heavyweight boxing champion Jessie “the Demon” Dalton needs a cornerman, and Eli jumps at the chance, hoping for answers about why Jessie broke his heart years ago. It soon becomes clear that Jessie needs Eli in his corner—and in his life. Now all Eli has to do is convince Jessie.Believe Me, Beloved
Robert Bradley dreams of singing on the radio, and when he attends the masked ball of handsome station owner Gabriel Chase, Robert has no idea his dream is about to take an unexpected paranormal turn.In His Corner originally published by Torquere Press, Inc., September, 2012.
When Love Walked In originally published by Torquere Press, Inc., February, 2012.
Believe Me, Beloved originally published in Masks Off Anthology by Top Shelf, An imprint of Torquere Press Publishers, 2012.A collection of historical stories set in the same era as The Auspicious Troubles of Love series.
Two were set in the real world while one had paranormal elements.
All three featured age-gap which is catnip to some but not really my thing.
When Love Walked In: Mittens and her human, Bruce Shannon, pick up jobless Jace. They fed him, clothed him, housed him and gave him a job. Throughout all these, Bruce and Jace dance around their mutual attraction. Well-paced, well-developed and sweet. Comes with Mittens’ seal of approval.
In His Corner: Washed up boxer Jesse Dalton tries to deal with his feelings for Eli as the young man whom he had pushed away comes back to his life as his new cornerman.
A story about second chances with fully-fleshed out background and convincingly delivered romance.
Believe Me, Beloved: Aspiring singer Robert Bradley was invited to a posh ball hosted by his boss and crush Gabriel Chase. There he discovers a different kind society. Weakest story for me. I must have bad luck with Cochet’s shifter stories because this one did not work. It seemed nothing more than a set-up for a human/were-jaguar mating.
Rating:
When Love Walked In –4 Stars
In His Corner –3 Stars
Believe Me, Beloved –
2.5 Stars
Overall:
3 Stars – not exactly setting my world on fire but I liked it
Soundtrack: First Day of My Life
Artist: Bright Eyes
Album: I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39722627-a-tender-curiosity)
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The Auspicious Troubles of Love: The Impetuous Afflictions of Jonathan Wolfe – Charlie Cochet
Eight years after leaving the deserts of Africa and the French Foreign Legion behind, Jonathan Wolfe has settled into life at Hawthorne Manor in the English countryside. Johnnie helps his adopted family run the manor and provide a safe, loving home for a new generation of “brats”: boys mistreated and discarded for their homosexuality—something all too familiar to Johnnie.
Although no longer an unruly youngster, Johnnie is as stubborn, foul-mouthed, and troublesome as ever. His recent rash behavior becomes a concern for those closest to him, especially Dr. Henry Young, the only man ever to capture Johnnie’s heart. Instead of soothing him, their closeness brings Johnnie’s insecurities from an unsettling past to the surface, and leads to an explosive situation that threatens to tear them apart. Then Henry’s past catches up to them….
Charlie Cochet topped the already very good Auspicious Troubles of Chance with the ridiculously good, ridiculously fun Impetuous Afflictions of Jonathan Wolfe.
After the end of the war and out of uniform, the fairy infantry flourished in the Hawthorne Manor with more Brats, now fondly referred to with a capital B. Johnnie and Doc Henry had met each other eight years prior and sparks flew. You would think the two would have had their happily ever after by now but, nooo, Johnnie had to be Johnnie and couldn’t let go of personal demons. Yes, even if everyone was vocally and actively shipping them, even if each knew how the other felt, Johnnie is still keeping Henry at arms length. But that doesn’t keep him from flirting like mad. Sometimes Henry turns the tables and beat Johnnie at his own game. How these two managed to deliciously slow burn their way through the entire book, until Jonathan finally came to terms with his feelings, is a treat worthy of a 5 halle-fucking-lujah stars.
DId I mention the book was fun? I live for the wisecracks and the banter, Chance especially. He came a long, long way. I’m glad to see him at his best and I love that he kept his lunatic streak. Jacky continues to be the pillar of strength for all and that twit Glen deserved more than just a bullet in the leg for what he did to Jacky. As for Chance AND Jacky, well…
“No one can out-kissy-face Chance and Jacky,”
Alexander and Bobbie are now grown ups and still as fluffy as ever. Alexander is a certified professor, homeschooling the Brats and Bobbie, well whatever he is doing right now, he’s still attached to Alexander. And like Johnnie and Henry, they need to sort things out between themselves, too
And then there’s the Brats. Elliot, Rori, Aubrey, Connor, Edmund, Oliver and Gideon make up the rest of the family. I’m not even remotely interested in kids but these Brats are sooo adorable! You simply can’t resist them!
It’s not all fun and games. Behind each person is a tragic backstory and the book is all about not letting your past define you and letting people in. Even though the author might have taken liberties and I am treating this story as a fairy tale, the idea that you are not alone and family doesn’t always mean related by blood resonates strongly. There’s also a message of hope and trust, of learning how to open yourself up to people who will never give up on you.
“Piss off. I’m not talking to you as your doctor now, I’m talking to you as the man who loves you, every stubborn, foulmouthed, infuriating inch of you. Do you understand? I love you.”
Even with his words warming me up inside, I couldn’t help my response. “You shouldn’t.”
Henry’s hand came to rest on my cheek and I turned my face to kiss his palm, making him smile. “You’re right, I probably shouldn’t, but that doesn’t change the fact that I do, and I’m glad I do, because even when you drive me barmy, I love you more every day. Despite what you may think, you’re a good man, and very much worthy of being loved. Please, let me love you. Instead of struggling alone, confide in me, lean on me, trust me to help you to the best of my ability. Trust me to love you and comfort you. I’m not weak.”
It doesn’t even end there. It took a lot of convincing and I mean A LOT, for Johnnie to finally open up and forgive himself. And it takes a lot of work to heal but he realized, it starts by reaching out to the right person
Whatever happened, I knew I had to try. Most importantly, I knew no matter my heartache, I wasn’t alone. I never had been. Rather than act on impulse, feeling my way through the dark, all I had to do was reach out.
I wasn’t all that happy with The Soldati Prince, the first Charlie Cochet story I read but then she blew me away with the Auspicious Troubles of Love series.
This series was published way back in 2012 and I am glad I was able to discover this underrated gem.
I really, really hope she would release more stories about the other Brats, like Aubrey and Rori or Connor and Gideon. Most importantly,
Alexander and Bobbie! They need their own book. I can’t believe everything’s hanging between them. They need closure. I need closure. Come on Charlie, make this happen please!
Rating:
5 Stars – absolutely perfectSoundtrack: Flaws
Artist: Bastille
Album: Bad Blood(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18691963-the-impetuous-afflictions-of-jonathan-wolfe)
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The Auspicious Troubles of Love: The Auspicious Troubles of Chance – Charlie Cochet
Chance Irving is a young man with a gift for getting into trouble-not surprising, as trouble is all he’s ever known. After losing everything he held dear one fateful night, he decides to leave New York and his past behind, and joins the French Foreign Legion. But even in Algiers, Chance can’t seem to shake his old ways, and he ends up being transferred to a unit made up of misfits and rabble-rousers like him-a unit he finds just in time to be captured and thrown into a cell with his new commandant, Jacky Valentine.
A highly respected commandant with a soft spot for hard luck cases, Jacky is the kind of guy who would go to war for you, and the three equally troubled youths from his unit he’s more or less adopted feel the same way about him. Suddenly Chance starts to think that his life doesn’t have to be as desolate and barren as the wastelands around him.
But even after their escape, with the promise of a future with Jacky to buoy his spirits, or maybe because of it, Chance can’t stop making mistakes. He disobeys orders, lashes out at the boys in Jacky’s care, and blazes a trail of self-destruction across the desert-until someone makes him realize he’s hurting more than just himself.
I wish I had this in audiobook, so I could hear New York, London and Georgia.
Chance, a native New Yorker, is a brash, in-your-face former stage performer who enlisted in the French Foreign Legion in the hopes of becoming something other than what he is right now, which is to say, a mess. He likes to run his mouth a little too much which gets him into trouble but which also makes him a great narrator of his story. He gets beaten up once in a while but yeah, he deserves it and he knows he does. But Chance being Chance, he will do it again anyway. Until Jacky.
Who is this man continuously accompanied by chaos and some form of deep-rooted lunacy?
Jacky, last name: Valentine, superhero name: Commandant Valiant, takes lost causes under his wing and turns them into real men. He likes giving Chance cringe-worthy pet names (buttercup, hummingbird, snuggle-pup) and while Chance always tries to push his buttons, Jacky sees through his asshole behavior (snuggle-pup wants some attention, is what it is). Jacky is the unit commander and the father/older brother figure to the young ones. He is well-respected, kind, fair and sees the good in everybody.
Johnnie, Bobby and Alexander are a bunch of adorable brats the world had spit out and Jacky has taken under his care. They didn’t get along with Chance at first but Jacky has seen something in Chance and because of that, they warily and begrudgingly try to be OK with Chance too. Because Chance is an idiot, he tries to piss them all off but nobody is falling for his hard-boil pretenses. The brats are smarter and tougher than they look.
Together, they are the “fairy infantry”.
“Just what I need, getting stuck in a unit with a screwy commandant, a kitten with anger issues, a mute, and Professor Freckles. I wonder if this is how P.T. Barnum got started.”
Together, they are one of the most engaging found families I have come across with. Chance, looking deep within himself, transforms from aggressive, never-do-well to a competent soldier who learned to follow orders and take responsibilities. Jacky was always there, believing that Chance could be a much better person. I like them both as characters and love their chemistry together. Their romance flowed naturally with the story. It took a while for Chance to face his feelings towards Jacky but when he finally did, it was beautiful. Bobbie and Alexander had to deal with their own feelings for each other and poor Johnnie had to deal with the doctor. The introduction of Dr. Henry Young was a big plus and I can’t wait to read Johnnie’s book.
This is one of the most enjoyable war-themed historical books I have read. There’s enough fluff and poignant moments to keep jaded readers, like me, happy. You might not want to look too much into the historical details but it well-written, low on angst and despite the desert setting, the atmosphere is bright and sunny enough to be pleasantly warm without smothering the reader with grit. I enjoyed the banter, the humor and, as a non-native English speaker, the 1930′s slang and colloquialism. The ending was a fairy-tale of sorts, which might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but for me, I’m just happy they’re happy.
Rating:
4.5 Stars – perfection is only half a step away
Soundtrack: Second Chances
Artist: Imagine Dragons
Album: Smoke + Mirrors(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14770495-the-auspicious-troubles-of-chance)
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Introducing Mr. Winterbourne – Joanna Chambers
Lysander Winterbourne appears to lead a charmed life. Handsome, amiable, and a renowned sportsman, he is the darling of London society. As far as Adam Freeman is concerned though, Lysander is just another spoiled aristocrat.
A wealthy mill owner, Adam has no time for the frivolous world of the ton, but when his younger brother becomes engaged to Althea Winterbourne, he reluctantly agrees to be introduced to society–with the Winterbourne clan’s golden boy as his guide.
Resigning himself to a few days of boredom, Adam is surprised to learn that there is much more to Lysander than his perfect surface. But will Adam have the courage to introduce Lysander Winterbourne to his own secret self?
I rarely buy into one-day love affairs but I’m sold on Lysander and Adam’s men-about-Town romance. Joanna Chamber’s novellete is short but fully-fleshed out. It introduces Lysander Winterbourne of the illustrious Winterbourne family, a typical upper class clan that’s high on the instep but short on the money. Lysander’s sister Althea is set to marry Simon Freeman, a man of commerce who has political ambitions. Lysander was
askedcommanded to squire around Adam, the older Freeman brother and the one who holds the purse strings. Even though both found each other attractive, it was good that Joanna Chambers did not exaggerate the insta-lust levels as some authors are wont to do but instead kept it palpable but gentlemanly.This!
Freeman lifted his half-full glass and drained it. He set it down with a decisive click, took a deep breath and said firmly, “I am not looking for a wife, Winterbourne.”
Just that.
A dozen questions teemed in Lysander’s mind. What did Freeman mean? Merely that he was a confirmed bachelor? Or was there something more to his confession? Could it be that Freeman was like Lysander? That he was more interested in his own sex than the fairer variety? Lysander’s heart began to race at the thought, and his mouth grew dry. He thought of Freeman lunging at him with his blade, his muscular body taut and lean, expression concentrated, and …Lysander wanted him.
The wanting was like hunger, a yearning that went beyond mere desire, toppling over into pure need.
And it was that, finally, that made Lysander speak, that made him put caution to one side and utter the truth, or one truth anyway.
“I am not looking for a wife either.”That and the dance. And bonding over fencing.
The story is nice, enjoyable pretty straight forward and while not exactly the kind that will blow your mind, it’s enough to tide you over until the next good book. In fact, it felt like a beginning a series. If JC makes a series out of this I would be glad to read the rest of it.
Rating:
3.5 Stars – that place between like and loveSoundtrack: Go Places
Artist: The New Pornographers
Album: Challengers(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39706695-introducing-mr-winterbourne)
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Sins of the Cities: An Unsuitable Heir – K.J. Charles
A private detective finds passion, danger, and the love of a lifetime when he hunts down a lost earl in Victorian London.
On the trail of an aristocrat’s secret son, enquiry agent Mark Braglewicz finds his quarry in a music hall, performing as a trapeze artist with his twin sister. Graceful, beautiful, elusive, and strong, Pen Starling is like nobody Mark’s ever met—and everything he’s ever wanted. But the long-haired acrobat has an earldom and a fortune to claim.
Pen doesn’t want to live as any sort of man, least of all a nobleman. The thought of being wealthy, titled, and always in the public eye is horrifying. He likes his life now—his days on the trapeze, his nights with Mark. And he won’t be pushed into taking a title that would destroy his soul.
But there’s a killer stalking London’s foggy streets, and more lives than just Pen’s are at risk. Mark decides he must force the reluctant heir from music hall to manor house, to save Pen’s neck. Betrayed by the one man he thought he could trust, Pen never wants to see his lover again. But when the killer comes after him, Pen must find a way to forgive—or he might not live long enough for Mark to make amends.
An Unsuitable Heir is the conclusion of the Sins of the Cities series. Following the events of the second book, An Unnatural VIce, Pen and Mark’s story starts with Mark discovering the identity of the Godfrey twins and Pen and Mark hooking up. Pen was soon introduced as the missing earl much to the consternation of the remaining Taillefer family members. Because the killer was still at large, Pen and Greta were sent to live in Crowmarsh for their safety but it seems the killer followed them there.
Pen is what modern people call gender queer at a time when the Western world couldn’t even begin to accept homosexuality. Working as a trapeze artist with Greta lets him be himself. He and Mark just clicked right away. I really like Mark’s open-minded pansexual attitude and how he and Pen fit together quite nicely.
“Serves you right. I roll you cross-eyed and you tell me you’re not fussy?”
“I’m not,” Mark said. “I told you from the start, mate. I like men, I like women, I like whoever, however they want to be—as long as it’s you. That’s the only thing in the world I’m picky about.” He smiled into Pen’s eyes, saw him smile back. “But I’m a bloody stickler for that.”Greta also found her happily ever after with Tim who I mistakenly suspect as the killer. That was really stupid of me. Tim is likable if nondescript and I like his blase attitude towards men kissing men.
I wasn’t really over the moon with the romance. They were OK but what kept me reading were the mystery and the family scandals. K.J. Charles called the trilogy her “total Victorian sensation fiction, channelling my love for Wilkie Collins, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Dickens in his wilder moods, and the other glorious writers of complicated plots with scandals, secrets and shenanigans up the wazoo“. A Victorian soap opera it is and with superb voice acting from Matthew Lloyd Davis, I felt like I was in on the action. His delivery of old man Desmond was really spot on.
One major conflict in the book is Pen’s dilemma. If he becomes an earl he had to cut his hair, wear a suit and be confined to what society considers to be a man. But then he cannot just throw his inheritance away and ruin his future along with Greta’s. Half of me wanted Pen to be the earl while half of me want him to be a trapeze artist hence the resolution was moderately satisfying but not as clever as Society of Gentlemen. The big reveal didn’t reveal anything too shocking. It was more of a confirmation of things that happened in all the three books. In the end, I think Justin Lazarus stole the show.
Rating:
3.5 Stars – that place between like and loveSoundtrack: Body was Made
Artist: Ezra Furman
Album: Perpetual Motion People(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33841918-an-unsuitable-heir)
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Sins of the Cities: An Unnatural Vice – K.J. Charles
In the sordid streets of Victorian London, unwanted desire flares between two bitter enemies brought together by a deadly secret.
Crusading journalist Nathaniel Roy is determined to expose spiritualists who exploit the grief of bereaved and vulnerable people. First on his list is the so-called Seer of London, Justin Lazarus. Nathaniel expects him to be a cheap, heartless fraud. He doesn’t expect to meet a man with a sinful smile and the eyes of a fallen angel—or that a shameless swindler will spark his desires for the first time in years.
Justin feels no remorse for the lies he spins during his séances. His gullible clients simply bore him. Hostile, disbelieving, utterly irresistible Nathaniel is a fascinating challenge. And as their battle of wills and wits heats up, Justin finds he can’t stop thinking about the man who’s determined to ruin him.
But Justin and Nathaniel are linked by more than their fast-growing obsession with one another. They are both caught up in an aristocratic family’s secrets, and Justin holds information that could be lethal. As killers, fanatics, and fog close in, Nathaniel is the only man Justin can trust—and, perhaps, the only man he could love.
The second book of the Sins of the Cities series, An Unnatural Vice centers on Justin Lazarus, Seer of London and his entanglement with Nathaniel Roy, crusading journalist. It picks up from the latter parts of An Unseen Attraction where Clem, Rowley, Mark and Nathaniel were on the business of the Clem’s family troubles.
The overarching thread of the series is the riveting mystery of who is murdering people to find information about the missing earl. Suspicious characters consulted the seer, then kidnapped him to force him to find the twins. He escaped but having no one to turn to, Justin ran to Nathaniel’s house to seek shelter. Nathaniel, his chivalrous streak a mile wide, offered his protection. Justin, unused to pure kindness, kept looking for strings attached. and Nathaniel had to keep assuring him there were none. From the get go, we know Justin Lazarus was a fraud but boy, was he really convincing. So convincing in fact that sometimes I forget that this series is historical and not paranormal. I really enjoyed the parts where he revealed his tricks to Nathaniel. Lying, cheating bastard that he is, Nathaniel still saw the good in him, his intelligence, confidence and skills. This is one of the parts I liked best. Nathaniel never lost faith that Justin could be so much more than a fake medium. But as much as I like the two characters and as clearly as I could see their chemistry, I was meh about them as a couple. I don’t know why. Bummer.
The big reveal, now that was quite something! Through Mark’s efforts, the missing Repentance and Regret were found and the chaos that ensued was a major laugh out loud moment. Poor Mark though. Can’t wait for his and Pen’s book. The Talleyfer family troubles is still far from being resolved.
Time and time again, K.J. Charles proved that she’s not capable of writing a bad story. While I am not blown away by the Sins of the Cities series, as much as I was with the beloved Society of Gentlemen and A Charm of Magpies, I think her slightly mediocre (if we can call something this good mediocre) works still read as highly enjoyable, fast paced and gripping. As expected of the author, there is strong sense of time and place. London is very much vividly present in most of her works. The cherry on top was narrator, Matthew Lloyd Davis who was a master at bringing the characters to life. His run through the entire spectrum of voices and accents was very convincing.
Unfortunately, this had to end with a cliffhanger so I recommend buying all three books before starting on this trilogy.
Rating:
3.5 Stars – that place between like and love
Soundtrack: Believe
Artist: The Bravery
Album: The Sun and the Moon(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32161804-an-unnatural-vice)
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Innocent: The Innocent Auction – Victoria Sue
London 1810.
Their love was a death sentence.
Deacon, Viscount Carlisle, was aware of the slums and gin-lanes of London. Just as he was aware of the underground traffic that furnished the brothels and bath houses with human innocents. He was also aware that the so-called justice system would hang the accused without much of an attempt at a defense, unless the unfortunate had deep pockets to pay for it.
He just hadn’t expected to be directly involved in any of it.
It started with a plea for help and ended with forbidden love, the love between a Viscount and a stable-boy. An impossible love and a guarantee of the hangman’s noose.
Will Deacon fight for Tom? Will he risk the death sentence and take that fight from the stately halls of his English mansion to the horrors of Newgate Prison and the slums of London?
Or will he realize that if he doesn’t, death will be a welcome end to the loneliness of the sentence he is already living?
As somebody with boring brown eyes surrounded by more brown eyes, descriptions of eye and hair color always fascinate me. My only first hand encounter with natural blue eyes is the right eye of my cat with heterochromia. Tom’s eyes was called stunning several times and if my cat’s eye is anything to go by, it might be quite stunning indeed. Face claims below:
This be tom
This be Deacon
Deacon has dark hair and grey eyes. Nice!
Theirs is a fluffy romance between an viscount, Deacon, who saved a young boy, Tom, from the innocent auctions, a highly illegal event that puts up the young and innocent for sale. Little did he know the boy would grow up to be the love of his life. Tom who was then sent directly to the countryside, was good with horses and worked for Deacon in his estate. They haven’t seen each other for five years since the rescue. When Deacon’s father, the earl, died, Deacon who inherited the title, visited the estate and there met Tom again. Both felt the strong attraction between them. There ensues the internal and external struggles of the two main characters with societal pressures and class conflict warring with personal desires. To add more complication to the mix, Deacon’s cousin and best friend, Beau, was caught in flagrante with the young son of the Duke of Cambridgeshire, a very influential and powerful figure. Beau was thrown into Newgate Prison and thereafter sentenced into pillory. Tom and Deacon tried to help him all the while trying to avoid scandal.
Major points for the atmosphere and historical details. Overflowing commodes, naked prisoners sleeping in dirty straw, the greasing of palms and exchange of coin for a slight change of accommodations…Regency era Newgate Prison was a very, very dismal affair. Poor Beau! His was the horror story every Regency era gay guy keeps in mind as they stumble into their clandestine affairs. Hence, Their love was a death sentence.
The story was the standard historical romance fare with the M/M angle thrown in but what I really like about it is that instead of the usual, arrogant sharped tongued rake, we get a newly minted earl who’s genuinely nice, kind, watches out for his own servants and rescues people. And while the writing lacked the humor and sharpness I always expect from British writers and the resolution was wrapped up a little too neatly in a tidy bow, it still has enough moments of fluff and drama to keep me interested and go for the second book.
I think this is a nice introduction to Victoria Sue’s work. Not quite as outstanding as I expected but definitely a lot of potential.
Rating:
3.5 Stars – that place between like and loveSoundtrack: Stepson
Artist: Foals
Album: Holy Fire(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35274455-the-innocent-auction)
